Kindergarten Tales

We are learning about 10's & 1's

2012-01-28T13:41:00.002-06:00

We have been busy learning about 10's and 1's in math. We worked with partners, got a random number and then used unifix cubes to build our number. Take a look at what we made:

Video update in progress...please check back soon!

A visitor...

2012-01-27T15:13:00.000-06:00

On Thursday, Mr.s Blakely's son came for a short visit in the afternoon. We've heard a lot about him, but this is the first time we met him! ;-)

Counting the Teen Numbers...

2012-01-22T20:49:00.004-06:00

We continue to work on learning the difference between 17 and 71 and other confusing teen numbers. Perhaps your class needs a little help with this too.
We're hoping this song will help:

A few times listening and you won't be able to stop singing! ;-)
Come on everybody.... ;-)

No People Like SNOW People...

2012-01-10T21:43:00.000-06:00

The weather has been so INCREDIBLY warm here that we have to work from "memory" on what it's like to make a snowman. ;-) We worked with paper to create every part of our snow people! We had to be sure to have something on it's head (hat, hair, earmuffs, etc), a face including eyes, nose and mouth, arms, a scarf and something down the middle...buttons, zipper, vest, etc. When we were all done, we had WONDERFUL snow people! Take a look at a few of them!
We don't know when we'll get snow for sure....but in the meantime, these will have to do!

The Gingerbread Man

2011-12-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

This week we listened to several versions of THE GINGERBREAD MAN. We took two of the stories and compared them to each other. We used hula-hoops to help us make a GIANT Venn-diagram, then we talked about the characters, settings, and the variations of the ending. We will read more stories and see how they are alike and different. Check back soon for more Gingerbread fun!

Hey Pete, We love our Shoes too...

2011-12-01T21:26:00.001-06:00

We are still enjoying our Pete The Cat books. Today we got to wear a pair of shoes that we love too! Take a look at the shoes we wore to school....
These are shoes from the AM class:

These shoes are from the PM class:

What are your favorite shoes?

We LOVE Shaving Cream...

2011-11-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

Just before we took off for Thanksgiving Break, our teacher surprised us with a chance to play in shaving cream. We wrote our sight words, numerals, shapes, simple pictures and more. What FUN we had. We can't wait until the next time we get to do shaving cream in class!

We Love Pete The Cat!

2011-11-19T12:29:00.000-06:00

We are really enjoying reading the Pete The Cat stories. We made our own Pete the Cats from paper. They are hanging in the hallway near our classroom. It took a lot of cutting and time but we made Pete wearing (and LOVING) all different color shoes! Then we wrote a sentence for Pete telling about his shoes. Take a look at how adorable these turned out!

Thanks Mrs. Jump for sharing ideas to help us make Pete the Cat!

Dads and Doughnuts and Books, Oh MY!

2011-11-10T06:00:00.002-06:00

We recently combined time with our Dads, with time to shop for books. Our wonderful Book Fair Volunteers, Staff and Teachers served doughnuts to our Dads (and the kids too). Then we got to shop the Book Fair. What fun!
Take a look at all the Dads (and a few Grandpas & Moms) that came out for the event!

Sight Word Fun...

2011-10-21T17:13:00.000-05:00

We have been busy learning sight words in class. We write them, spell them, color them and more. One of our favorite ways to practice them is to make them out of playdough!

PS...Thanks Mrs. Kramer for creating this fun activity for us to enjoy! ;-)

llama, llama in pajamas...

2011-10-10T09:17:00.002-05:00

We really love the llama, llama books. There is something about llama, llama and all his drama that keeps us smiling! If you have not read them yet, they are a "Must Read" for this age group! On Thursday, October 7, 2011, we joined hundreds of Kindergartners all over the country in hearing the book "llama llama Red Pajama" written by Anna Dewdney. We were trying to help set a new world record. Mrs. Kendryna, our principal came in and read the book to us. We love to help find the rhyming words. After the story, we brainstormed all the different types of pajamas we could think of...blue pajamas, pink, orange, yellow, green, polka-dot, hearts, stripes, plaid, etc. Then we got a llama in pajamas template, some markers and a few crayons and got busy designing pajamas. We are using the pictures we created to make a HUGE class book that we can read and share all year long. Take a look at the fun we had and the wonderful creations we made:

We don't know if we set a world record for the number of students hearing the same book on the same day or not, but we sure had fun trying! ;-)

PS..click here to go to YouTube see and hear the author, Anna Dewdney read llama, llama Red Pajama!

Pattern Partners...

2011-10-03T07:13:00.000-05:00

We worked with our partners to create all kinds of patterns. Right now, we make a lot of AB patterns. Watch to see how we work in class:

Math Fun...

2011-09-21T07:50:00.002-05:00

We are learning to use our math materials to make PATTERNS! We are learning that patterns repeat in a predictable way. Take a look at some of the neat patterns we made in class:

We're Here!

2011-09-19T07:55:00.001-05:00

School has been in session for a few weeks now. It's taken a while to get permission slips and photos in alignment, but we're here! We've been busy learning names, enjoying books, working with partners, learning letters, sounds and words. Here are a few photos of us on our very first day of Kindergarten!

Books Online

2011-06-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

Before we left school for summer break, we talked about the importance of making time for Reading and Writing over the summer. Here are links to books to read online or print out to read in the car, by the pool, in bed, on a blanket in the park....or anywhere you want to read. Remember the more you practice, the better you'll get, so read, read, read!

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Flag Day 2011

2011-06-14T07:00:00.006-05:00

Today is FLAG DAY! Here are a few FLAG FACTS you may find interesting:

More than likely you have heard the song, The Star Spangled Banner. You usually hear it while people are looking at the flag. Many sporting events start with the singing of our National Anthem. But do you know who wrote the famous song? About 197 years ago a man named Francis Scott Key wrote the words to what is now our National Anthem. It was originally written as a poem. The poem was put to music that was written by John Stafford Smith. Watch and listen as our National Anthem is performed by Jordan Shelton:

Here are the lyrics:

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

School's Out For Summer...

2011-06-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

We said GOODBYE to our Kindergarten friends on Tuesday! We had a great year together. While school may be over, there are several photos waiting to be posted so be sure to check back soon for photos of several fun Kindergarten days!

Learning about Sharks...

2011-05-28T18:07:00.000-05:00

In addition to preparing for our Kinder-Olympics this past week, we also continued our Sea Life unit. One of the animals we learned about this week was the shark:

Preparing for the Kinder-Olympics

2011-05-18T06:59:00.000-05:00

All year long we have been working out in the gym. We have trained our bodies to run, jump, hop, skip, push-up, and sit-up. We have learned to jump rope, dribble balls, scoot on scooters, hula-hoop and more. On Tuesday we will get to put all our skills into action as we host the very first Kinder-Olympics at our school. We are so pumped and excited! Take a look at some of our preparations...

Preparing for the Kinder-Olympics from Cindy Blakley on Vimeo.

We Know About Fish...

2011-05-12T12:25:00.000-05:00

We have been learning all about FISH! We know the things that make a fish a fish! Watch as a few of our friends share what they know about fish:

We Know Fish from Cindy Blakley on Vimeo.

Woodworking Projects...

2011-05-05T16:18:00.000-05:00

At our Fun Fair last week Lowe's sponsored a woodworking room. There were some woodworking projects left over and some of the projects got donated to our room. Take a look at the first "Project workers" and their finished picture frames. Thanks to the folks over at Lowe's for their contributions to our workbench!

Meet our AM Class...

2011-04-27T09:52:00.000-05:00

To our friends in Mrs. Coe's class: Hello from the AM class. We are excited to meet you. Take a look at our picture to see what we look like. We are missing two of our girls, but all 10 of our boys are here. We can't wait to learn about Cinco de Mayo. We don't really know what it is! Christopher said it's 5, but we don't know 5 what?? We really want to see your school. Don't forget to send us pictures! THANKS!

Making New Friends...

2011-04-25T13:47:00.000-05:00

We are excited to meet our new Kinder-Friends in Mrs. Coe's Kindergarten class. They posted a picture and message to us on their blog: Little Miss Kindergarten we are sharing a photo of our PM class. We were missing 2 boys and 2 girls from our PM class. We'll share the AM class tomorrow. We are wondering if you have any questions for us? We live outside of Chicago, IL. We have 1/2 days of Kindergarten. We had library and Gym today. Do you have Gym too? This was our last chance to check out books from the Library (inventory is coming soon). We had partners in Gym and played with balls. Can't wait to learn more about you all. Can you send us a picture of your school? We'll get one of ours. Oh and can we see your playground? ;-)
THANKS!

The PM Class

Bunny Glyphs...

2011-04-20T15:48:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Blakely and Mrs. Borczak saw this idea on the First Grade blog: First Grade a la Cart and thought it would be perfect for us. They tweaked it a bit so we could combine both grade levels to work together. We divided our classes up...some Kindergartners went to work in Frist Grade and some First Graders came to work in Kindergarten.

Take a look at us working well together:

This is the legend/key to "read" each bunny:

Take a look and see if you can apply the legend to learn more about each bunny's creator:

We had a lot of fun with this activity! Thanks again to Mrs. Lavv for sharing this idea on her blog!

iTunes FREE MATH APPS...

2011-04-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

In recognition of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference, McGraw Hill is offering FREE math apps for iPods/iPhones/iPadsMcGraw Hill publishes the Everyday Math Program. Hurry to iTunes because these apps are only free through April 17th.

Nursery Rhymes Presentations...

2011-04-08T23:13:00.000-05:00

Over several weeks, we have been learning a variety of Nursery Rhymes. A few days ago, the kids were grouped in small groups and then they chose the Nursery Rhyme they wanted to act out. The children discussed who would do which jobs. They also worked out what props they would need. Some made them from scratch and others added some things from home. Each group worked together and practiced their parts. Take a look at our performances:
AM Class:

Nursery Rhymes from Cindy Blakley on Vimeo.
PM Class:

Nursery Rhymes PM from Cindy Blakley on Vimeo.

Puppy Lullaby....

2011-04-04T18:51:00.003-05:00

My friend, Mrs. Borczak shared this video with me. It's really cute. I thought you might think so too!

More Learning Apps from iTunes...

2011-04-03T07:53:00.068-05:00

I was searching through iTunes and came across a few Apps for learning you might like. (note: these are not FREE Apps). Some of our Kindergarteners have iPods and iPads and might enjoy these links.

Oh and by the way, in case you are wondering....we do NOT have iPods or iPads in the classroom. It would be NICE, maybe someday!

Build a Word Easy Spelling

Make A Word

STORYBOOK APPS:

Bob Books

PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Nursery Rhymes with Story Time

Goldilocks & The Three Bears

Miss Spider's Bedtime Story (iPad)

Beatrix Potter Collection

We will continue to search for fun Apps for learning. In the meantime, please let us know if you have a favorite educational App that you think we might enjoy.

iTunes Adds Classic Picture Books...

2011-03-30T16:25:00.000-05:00

We're still out on Spring Break, but I thought I'd stop in to share a little info:
For those of you iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad owners, you may be interested to know that iTunes has added Classic Children's Picture Books to their library. Titles include, The Poky Little Puppy, Caps for Sale, & Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. iBook is a FREE download from iTunes. The books vary by price. Enjoy!

A New Look for Our Blog...

2011-03-28T19:18:00.001-05:00

Today we are THRILLED and EXCITED to reveal a NEW, FRESH, LOOK for our blog. After searching around at several blogs and viewing a lot of templates and designers, I chose Pamela Lopez at The Posh Box to help bring a fun, friendly look to our blog!
Don't you just LOVE it?
Pamela worked with me to create the exact style I desired. I love the birds and polka dots! Be sure to look over all the new changes....you can read about us, visit our links, send posts to friends & family via email, sign up to follow us, get email updates, share us on your Facebook, Tweet about us, or grab the banner to share our blog on your site.The Odiogo ("Listen Now") link will even add us to your iTunes.
If you have a need to create or redesign your own blog or website, The Posh Box has lots of templates and resources to help you find the perfect design for you! Pamela is GREAT!!
Please check back soon to see new pages and links!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU Pamela for your patience and hard work!
I am sure our viewers will agree....I think it looks FANTASTIC!!

We Love Center Time...

2011-03-24T22:48:00.002-05:00

We usually have very busy days in Kindergarten. One of our favorite times of the day is "Center Time". We get to choose to play from a lot of different areas. Some kids like going to the Block Corner, others like to go to the Writing Center. Some kids like to go to Housekeeping. You can choose to make paper puppets, draw, do puzzles, play with Math games, ABC games, write notes to friends, go on the computer, read books and so much more. The only thing you can't do is NOTHING! With so many choices, everyone needs to be busy doing SOMETHING!

This slideshow created with Smilebox

More From Storybird...

2011-03-15T08:00:00.002-05:00

Here are a few more stories you may enjoy from Storybird. Remember, we would love to read books you create there too:
The Picnic on StorybirdThe Strangest Family in the World on StorybirdFriends! on Storybird

A New Way to Share Books...

2011-03-14T15:00:00.009-05:00

Storybird is a fun site where you can find pictures, add your own words and create your very own book. Here's a sample book for you to enjoy. We will make more books to share so be sure to check back soon.
Red Bird and His Band on StorybirdIn the meantime, click over to Storybird and create a book of your own. Please let us know when your book has been published so we can read it.

Paper Puppets...

2011-03-11T16:09:00.002-06:00

We are having so much fun making Paper Puppets! Our teacher used her Gypsy & Cricut machine to create some puppet templates for us to trace. We got to pick out some of the clothing and costumes too. We use the templates and paper scraps to make our puppets. Then we glue them on sticks and head over to our puppet stage. What creative fun!

Free slideshow design generated with Smilebox

Popsicle Party...

2011-03-10T16:02:00.003-06:00

Today we got to have a POPSICLE PARTY!! We collected the most box tops of all the classes and as a reward, we got to have a nice frozen treat. YUMMY!! Thanks to all the families who sent in boxtops to help us win!

Nursery Rhymes...

2011-03-02T08:00:00.002-06:00

We really enjoy reading and playing around with Nursery Rhymes. Sometimes we change some of the rhyming parts of the Nursery Rhymes and make new rhymes that make us really giggle. Other times we act out the parts, that's fun too!

We are working on getting a post together for our blog that shows some of what we do with the rhymes. In the meantime, here are some of the rhymes we've worked with:

(click on the image to access/download file)

We Love Llama Llama...

2011-02-28T15:59:00.000-06:00

We continue to work on listening for rhyming words. Anna Dewdney has written several adorable books about Llama Llama. The books all make great use of rhymes while telling a wonderful story. We just love the way Mama can always calm little Llama Llama down and also reassure him of her love! We borrowed one of the titles from our school library and even borrowed one from another school in our district so we could enjoy them. We are hoping to get our own copies of all the books soon and have them become a permanent part of our classroom library!

Amazon.com Widgets

Sight Words List 1...

2011-02-27T12:58:00.011-06:00

Note there is a new section to our blog. It's located at the top of the page just under the heading. It's titled: Reading Links and Downloads. Over time you will be able to click on that page and find downloadable sight words, links to games and other materials designed to support parents as they work with their Kindergarten child with reading at home. Since this is our first downloadable page, I will post it here. In the future, look for it on the Reading Links & Downloads page.

Here is our first downloadable list of sight words. Feel free to print them out and use them as flash cards with your child. Please note each word appears several times in different fonts to help with recognition of the word in a variety of printing or publishing styles. Check back often for more links and downloads.

We are Stylin'...

2011-02-22T14:51:00.013-06:00

We recently received the "Stylish Blogger Award". It was given to us by Mrs. Pearce at the "I Can, You Can, Toucan Classroom Blog. Thank you Mrs. Pearce for presenting this award to our blog!

The rules for receiving the award include:

1.Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 5 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

Since this blog is about our Kindergarten classes, how about we share 7 things about the Kindergarten kids? (not in any order)

We LOVE Center Time (free choice activities)
We LOVE reading
We like playing ABC Games
We like Tub Time (Math)
We Love Computer Lab & Gym
We Love our teacher
We like the Big Blue Book (Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Activities)

Other bloggers we sent this award to include:

Our friends at

Mania Kindergarten

Miss Erin's Pre-School Class

Mrs. Partyka's Second Grade Class

Mrs. Stringham's Multi-Aged Class

KinderKids

Mrs. Cassidy's Classroom Blog

First Grade Explorations

Valentine's Day '11

2011-02-17T16:10:00.005-06:00

We had fun at our Valentine's Day parties. We finally got to take home our bag of Valentine's from all of our classmates. Our parents helped with treats and games to make our party a fun time for all. Thanks to the parents for all their help!
(Having a bit of technical difficulties with our video. Please check back later. Thanks for your patience)

100 Days of School...

2011-02-13T14:43:00.007-06:00

Friday was the 100th Day of School for us. We were so excited! Since our very first day, we have been counting every day that we have been in Kindergarten. Along the way, we have learned to count by 1's, 5's & 10's. Reaching 100 days has been a major milestone for us. We each brought in 100 tiny treats. We mixed them all together and made a great snack.

We did 100 exercises, made fun hats, ate and danced. We had a lot of fun!

Another Snow Day....

2011-02-03T17:26:00.004-06:00

The Blizzard of 2011 still has us in it's grip!

Looks like we'll have another Snow Day tomorrow. Hopefully we'll all be back at school on Monday!

My dog Lola loves the snow!

Winter Storm...Early Spring....

2011-02-02T13:58:00.006-06:00

Well, it looks like the majority of our kids predicted correctly about the groundhog this year. He did NOT see his shadow. So despite school being closed today andtomorrow due to the "Blizzard of 2011", it looks like Punxsutawney Phil is predicting an early spring! And if you ask me...not a moment too soon! ;-)

Here's a video of Phil in action:

And here are a few photos of what was outside of my doors this morning:

What a drift...this fence is about 4ft high!

Can't find the street!

Spring can't come soon enough for me! ;-)

Groundhog Guesses....

2011-02-01T19:27:00.004-06:00

Today we made our guesses on if we think the groundhog will see his shadow or not tomorrow. The predictions were 11 YES and 29 NO. The fact that we are in the verge of what is said to be the worst blizzard in decades had a huge impact on our guesses! Most of us figured with the bulk of the snow expected tomorrow morning, that little fellow has very little chance of seeing his shadow. It all remains to be seen tomorrow! We'll have to wait until February 3rd to talk about it in class because school has already been cancelled for tomorrow! Hope everyone can stay safe, dry and warm! Enjoy your snow day Kindergarten friends!

The Mitten...

2011-01-14T12:20:00.012-06:00

We read two versions of the story, THE MITTEN. One was written by Jan Brett and the other by Alvin Tresselt. We compared how the two stories were alike and how they were different. Then we brought in our own mittens. We guessed how many Uni-Fix cubes might fit inside our mittens, then we stuffed the mittens with as many cubes as we could. We dumped them all out, grouped them into 10's & 1's and found out our totals. It's amazing how many of those cubes can fit inside a mitten. ;-)

Take a look at us working nicely with our partners:

We're Back...

2011-01-03T20:52:00.005-06:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Today we returned from our "Winter Break". It seemed like a long time to be away from school. It was so good to see all our friends. We got to write about our favorite gifts or something fun we did while we were away from school. We are excited to see what the new year will bring to us!

100,000 Visitors!!!

2010-12-01T13:22:00.004-06:00

We are thrilled and excited to note that as of today, we hit the 100,000 mark on our blog! That is a really BIG number! We are constantly amazed that so many people have taken an interest in what we do in class.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you will continue to check out what we do in Kindergarten!

Reading Support Links...

2010-11-22T10:48:00.003-06:00

Hello Kindergarten Friends...While you are home relaxing and getting ready to enjoy Thanksgiving parades and turkey; I have been busy with the first grade teachers finding fun links for you to enjoy at home or at school. These READING SUPPORT LINKS are intended to help you become stronger readers and writers. There are games, songs, videos and even downloads for your MP3 players or iPods. I also added the link to the sidebar here so you can always find it easily. Have fun and don't eat too much turkey! See you soon!

Counting Teen Numbers...

2010-11-10T15:21:00.005-06:00

We have been working on learning to recognize and write the TEEN numbers. Sometimes we get mixed up and forget that all of the teen numbers start with a "1". Sometimes we write the number backwards, for instance for "thirteen" instead of writing 13, we write 31. We are working on counting groups of objects and recognizing and writing the numerals correctly.
This video may help us remember to read & write them correctly:

Halloween 2010...

2010-10-29T16:25:00.008-05:00

We had our Halloween Parties today. WHAT FUN! We got to parade around the school in our costumes, then we came back to the room for a party. The parents had great crafts, games and snacks for us. We even got to take treats home with us. THANKS to all the parents for helping us have a fun time! Take a look at the videos from our day:
AM Parade:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

AM Class Costumes:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

PM Costumes:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Firefighters Visit....

2010-10-26T17:22:00.003-05:00

The Carol Stream Firefighters came to visit us yesterday and today. On Monday, they brought in some of their equipment including the famous JAWS OF LIFE!!! We were so excited. Bria got to dress up like a firefighter and Jamie got to show us how to stop drop and roll! Unfortunately, on Tuesday, bad weather caused the firefighters to be called to duty. We had one lone firefighter. He did a nice job, but we didn't get to see the kid-sized uniform or the JAWS OF LIFE! He invited kids to visit the firehouse and they can see the jaws of life there. In the meantime, you can see them in the video!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We Know Fire Safety...

2010-10-21T15:30:00.003-05:00

We have been learning about ways to keep safe from fire. We know what to do if our clothes catch fire, if we are in a room filled with smoke, what to do if we find matches, and more. Many of our classmates still need to find an outside meeting place at home, and we hope that will happen soon. For more Fire Safety information, visit our FIRE SAFETY page on our class website. This video covers many of the things we talked about in class, watch it with your family and remember to BE SAFE!

Apple Treats...

2010-10-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

We had fun sorting, graphing, and counting our apples. But the most fun of all came when we got to EAT the apples. We made "Apple Smiles" and " Slow-Cooked Apples".

Take a look at the fun we had making our apple smiles and eating our apple treats:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What an HONOR....

2010-10-06T15:03:00.005-05:00

Today we got news that our Kindergarten Blog has been chosen as a TOP KINDERGARTEN BLOG in the Midwest Region!
Wow! What a thrill and honor! We are pleased and proud to place this badge in a permanent spot on the sidebar of our blog! Thanks to the folks at Teacher Salary Info for taking note of what we share here!

Teacher Salary Info

Another Kind of Apple Graph...

2010-10-05T15:18:00.006-05:00

We had a chance to make our own individual graphs. We got an envelope with paper apples in red, yellow & green. Each envelope had different amounts of each color. We counted then put the paper apples on our graphing papers. We colored our graphs to match what we had in our envelopes. It is fun to talk about and compare our results.

Check out the Math Standards for why we need to know about graphing:

Data Analysis & Probability

Apple Week....

2010-10-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

This is "APPLE WEEK" in Kindergarten. We brought in all kinds of apples to begin the week. Mrs. Blakely has a HUGE floor graph and we used it to graph the different types of apples we had. We graphed by colors and labeled the columns RED, GREEN, YELLOW, & MIXED. Take a look at our results:

What do you notice about the graphs?

Does this mean more kids LIKE red apples?

AM graph:

Columns top to bottom: green, red, yellow, mixed

PM graph:

Columns top to bottom: mixed, yellow, red, green

Visit this site for great photos of many different kinds of apples: Apple Journal

We had smoothies....

2010-10-04T14:50:00.006-05:00

We have been working hard to have strong bodies and strong minds. We start each day with a bit of a workout. Some days we jog with a buddy around the schoolyard. The first few times we tried, many kids were exhausted half-way around. Now everyone makes it around with no problem. One day we challenged ourselves to go around two times!! WOW! That was a good workout. Mrs. Blakely surprised us and made smoothies for us after our run. She used mango juice, frozen strawberries, vanilla yogurt and a bit of powdered vanilla protein. All the stuff got blended together in a blender. Most of us thought the smoothies were yummy!
What is your favorite kind of smoothie?

Tub Time in Kindergarten...

2010-09-28T15:44:00.005-05:00

Many times a Kindergartner comes home and provides limited insights to what goes on in class. We hope you will watch our video and see what we do during TUB TIME!
A big (and FUN) part of our day is TUB TIME! During Tub Time we work on our math skills. Right now we work on may different skills such as sorting, counting, graphing, and more. At Tub Time we can build with blocks. We play with Uni-fix Cubes. We can trace templates of shapes. We look at treasures (key, buttons, shells, bottle caps, etc.). There can be 5 kids at each tub. There are 9 tubs to choose from. We go to a new tub whenever we want. We don't have to wait for the lights to go out or for Mrs. Blakely to tell us to change tubs. We just have to clean up where we are working and then go to a different tub. We have geo-bands and Geoboards. We play with dominoes, pattern blocks and tiles too. Take a look at the kids working hard and having fun at TUB TIME: (note: the PM class helped write this post) ;-)

The Letter Sound Song...

2010-09-17T08:15:00.001-05:00

We are learning to put sounds together for reading and writing. We sing this song in class and refer to it often when we are working:

Animal ABC...

2010-09-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Take a look at this video about all kinds of animals and the letters that begin their names:

An Alphabet Video...

2010-09-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

This is a video I made a while back to help young learners recognize letters of the alphabet in the environment. Be sure to help your young child look for letters when you are out and about!

More Graphing...

2010-09-10T08:00:00.002-05:00

After reading books about children with long names, we decided to graph the number of letters in our names. First we spelled out our names on the graphing strips, then colored them with our favorite colors. Our teacher made a graph with columns for 3,4,5,6,7,8, and 9+ letters in our names. Take a look at the graphing results. See if you can answer the following questions about the graph: (note: the first strip in each column is there just to show the quantity, it's blank so don't include it in your counting)

Look at each class separately:

Which column had the most?

Which had the fewest?

Were there any columns that were the same/equal?

Were there any columns that didn't have ANY?

Next compare the AM Graph with the PM Graph:

Are there any columns that have the same/equal number of names?

Was the column with the most the same for both classes?

Was the column with the fewest the same for both classes?

Was the column that didn't have ANY the same?

What else do you notice about the graphs?

AM Graph:

PM Graph:

Playing Name Games...

2010-09-09T15:17:00.007-05:00

All this week we have been reading stories, playing games and singing songs that highlight our names. We read two fun books, Chrysanthemum and Tikki Tikki Tembo. We thought it was fun to read Chrysanthemum with 13 letters in her name, only to read Tikki Tikki Tembo who has 50 letters in his name! Take a look at what a few friends in the morning class chose to do during Center Time:

Nice job boys!!

Boy & Girl Graph...

2010-09-03T15:21:00.004-05:00

We have many friends in class. Some of us are friends from before Kindergarten; and others we are just getting to know! We made a graph of the girls and boys in our class. Take a look at the photo and use it to answer the following questions:

In the A.M. Class, are there more boys or girls? How many more?
In the P.M. Class, are there more girls or boys? How many more?
Comparing the A.M. girls with the P.M. girls, which class has more girls? How many more?
Do the same for the A.M. boys & the P.M. boys.
Which class has the most students?
How many students in all?
What else do you notice about the graph?

Left side=A.M.

Right side= P.M.

(boys are on left side of each graph)

Back To School Picnic....

2010-09-01T15:44:00.014-05:00

It was so nice to see so many families come out for the Back To School Picnic. There were lots of old friends and new ones too. There was a DJ who had an assistant who was in Kindergarten with Mrs. Blakely a long time ago! We danced and had a hula-hoop contest. Kids played on the playground and grown-ups had time to visit each other. Take a look at some of the fun we had:

It seems the quality of the video is better with the smaller veiwer (not fit to screen). I will see if I can get better quality. (sorry!)

Kindergarten '10-'11

2010-08-25T20:36:00.005-05:00

Hello from the '10-'11 Kindergartners! Today was our first day of class. We said goodbye to our parents at the door, and began learning about our routines. We are making our first books in class too. We were just learning about CENTER TIME when our day had to end.We look forward to more learning tomorrow.

Parents, Grandparents and other friends & family, you can sign up to get email updates or become a follower of our blog and be up to date on the latest happenings inKindergarten! Take a look at us on our first day!!

AM Class:

PM Class

Don't forget to check back regularly to see what we're up to in class!

Alphabet Video...

2010-08-11T08:32:00.005-05:00

Take a look at this fun video about the letters of the alphabet:

Back 2 School Shopping...

2010-08-05T08:21:00.003-05:00

In just a few short weeks, we'll be heading back to school. There's good news for families gearing up to do their back to school shopping. This year the state of Illinois is removing the state tax on select back-to-school items (note local taxes still apply). Many of the basic school supplies qualify as well as back to school clothing items. This "TAX HOLIDAY" begins Friday, August 6th and continues through August 15th. For more information and a detailed list of items read the article in the DAILY HERALD.

Happy Shopping!

Happy 4th of July '10...

2010-07-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

Wishing you a safe and HAPPY 4th!

We Know About An Octopus...

2010-06-05T22:00:00.002-05:00

We are finishing up the school year, but we still have plenty to share. After seeing movies, reading books and even getting to touch a real octopus, we were ready to write about an octopus. Take a look at what some of our classmates wrote:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Learning About SHARKS!....

2010-05-27T10:52:00.003-05:00

One of our favorite animals to learn about is the SHARK!! We looked at several books and watched this video: (the narrator's voice sounds VERY familiar!) ;-)

Octopus Video Requests....

2010-05-12T22:20:00.004-05:00

As we continue learning about Sea Animals, we have watched several quick videos. The PM class requested to have these octopus videos on our blog. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do:

Thanks to the folks at National Geographic for making these available!

Clay in Art Class...

2010-05-11T23:35:00.003-05:00

We got a GREAT surprise when we went to art class. We got to work with clay!! Everyone was so excited. We got to flatten our clay circles and traced paper butterfly templates to make our projects. We mounted them on a base. Mr. Wills will fire them in the kiln and we'll get to finish them. Here's how we got started: Be sure to check back in a few weeks to see our final designs.

Thank You Lowe's...

2010-04-27T08:38:00.007-05:00

Our AM Class
Our PM Class

We spend a lot of time talking about ways to "Go Green". We know that one way to help is by reducing the number of plastic bags we use when shopping. Our local Lowe's store donated reuseable bags to our Kindergarten classes to help get us started on the path to "green".

THANKS Lowe's for your continued support!

CFL Lights...

2010-04-23T10:00:00.001-05:00

We learned that one thing we can do to help us go green is to change out regular light bulbs and replace them with CFL bulbs. As a homework assignment, we made tallies of the types of light fixtures we have in our homes. We also identified the light that gets the most use. Our plan is to replace the bulb in that fixture (if possible) with a new CFL bulb. Even one bulb can make a difference and hopefully our families will consider changing more bulbs in their homes. The bulbs were donated to our school from Lowe's in Carol Stream. If you're not sure you want to switch your old light bulbs out for CFL bulbs, maybe this video will help convince you to use them:

To read more about CFL Lights visit: Light Your Way to Energy Savings!

A Fun Way to Reuse a Box...

2010-04-22T14:02:00.005-05:00

We have been talking about EARTH DAY all week long. One of the things we all will try to do is REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE as much as we can. Our teacher shared this video by Stephen Sotor with us and it made us think of fun things we could do with an empty box! Watch and see if it inspires you to think "outside the box" too:
Thanks Stephen for this fun video! We love it!

Going Green in Kindergarten...

2010-04-21T08:00:00.002-05:00

As we continue learning about the ocean, we are taking time this week to learn about some of the many ways we can do our part to "go Green". We talked about ways to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. This video helped inspire us to do more. We found it amazing to see all the things that could be made from recycled materials. What do you think YOU could do to Go Green?

More Sea Life...

2010-04-19T15:29:00.006-05:00

We have been very busy learning about different types of sea animals. So far we have learned about a variety fish, starfish and crabs.We have made art projects related to some of the animals. Our mural is coming along very nicely. Take a peek at how it looks so far:
This is in our classroom:This is in the hallway:
PS...We also know that mermaids are not real, but it's fun to pretend! :-)

Sea Life: Underwater Volcanoes...

2010-04-14T14:48:00.007-05:00

In Kindergarten we are learning that there's a lot more in the sea other than animals. We learned there are volcanoes under water! It's hard to believe, but take a look at these videos that show a volcano erupting.

A New Species of Fish...Psychedelic Fish

2010-04-13T09:00:00.002-05:00

Have you ever heard of the PSYCHEDELIC FISH? Don't worry, we hadn't heard of it before either. It's a new species of fish discovered in the last few years. Take a look at this video from National Geographic to learn more about this interesting fish with an unusual way of moving through the water:

Sea Life Unit...Fish

2010-04-12T08:00:00.002-05:00

We have been very busy with our new unit on Sea Life. So far we have been learning all about FISH! We learned many interesting facts about fish. We used that information to help us design fish for our classroom mural. As we learn about different animals that live in the sea, we will also create the animal from papers to add to our mural. Check back soon for pictures. In the meantime you might enjoy playing this fish game we found online: How Many Fish?

Fun With Paint....

2010-03-18T15:52:00.007-05:00

As part of our Easy Tech lessons, we are learning how to use graphics programs for drawing with the computer. Our computers at school have Microsoft Paint. We are using this program to create drawings to support our learning. You too can use a paint program to draw. If you have the Paint program on your computer, this video may help.

Or you can go to this Crayola site to draw and print pictures as well: Crayola Coloring.

We love using Easy Tech and are happy the Spring Trail PTO helped pay for it. THANKS!
Check our blog soon to see some of our fine computer drawings!

Lola From the Rescue....

2010-03-10T17:26:00.013-06:00

A few days ago, the Kindergarteners got to meet my new puppy. I adopted her from the Almost Home Foundation (we've been helping them with supplies and money all year long). The mother was rescued from a high kill shelter and gave birth to several puppies in a foster home. The Almost Home Foundation brings pets who are fostered to our local Pets Mart stores in hopes of finding homes for them. One special puppy stole my heart right away! She is a Labrador Retriever-Mix, so I don't know how big she'll really get.

I had a hard time coming up with just the right name for her. Then Jacob (in the AM Class) thought of the perfect name, Lola!

Isn't she adorable?

Lola came to visit the kids at school. She was on her very best behavior and even showed off her very first trick.... "SIT" ;-)

Lola gets along well with my other dog, Coal. He'll turn 12 years old on March 17th. Lola a good companion for Coal. He loves to play tug-of-war with her.

Take a look at the afternoon class meeting her for the first time.

Groundhog Day Predictions 2010...

2010-02-01T13:40:00.005-06:00

We discussed Groundhog's Day and what it might mean if the Groundhog sees his shadow and what it means if he doesn't. We're all pretty tired of this cold weather and would like nothing more than to see warm weather creeping around the corner. But we all realize it's not up to us!

We are anxious to see the results tomorrow! Take a peek at how our classes predicted tomorrow's outcome! As you can see, more of us think he will NOT see his shadow and we'll have an early spring. Let's hope those friends are right!!

Edible SnowPeople...

2010-01-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

We had fun using marshmallows, candy pieces and toothpicks to make edible snowpeople! It was kind of sticky, but we didn't care! Take a look at our yummy handmade treats!

SnowPeople...

2010-01-08T08:00:00.002-06:00

We finished our SnowPeople and we know for sure...There are NO People, like SnowPeople! ;-)

Our instructions were that every SnowPerson had to have a hat (or hair), eyes, nose, mouth, buttons (or other clothing), and arms. Everyone did a nice job of following directions!
Take a look at what great, creative work we did....

Making SnowPeople...

2010-01-07T15:20:00.009-06:00

We were inspired by the video "The Snowman" by Raymond Briggs. In the video, a young boy made a wonderful snowman.

We used tons of scraps of paper that we've saved all year to help us get very creative with our designs for making snowpeople. Take a look at how hard we worked to create some really nice snowpeople.

Check back soon to see our finished snowpeople!

Fun with Vocabulary Words...

2009-12-05T19:40:00.000-06:00

As part of our Language Arts Curriculum, we are reviewing "positional words". We thought it might be fun to use a few of our classroom "Foster pets" to help us with our learning:

Cards for Our Soliders...

2009-11-15T08:30:00.002-06:00

A few days ago we went to the Library and made cards for the U.S. soliders who will be away from home for the holidays. We had lots of winter and holiday paper shapes to choose from. We got to pick a few to use to decorate our cards. Each class in our school made cards for the soliders. All the cards will be mailed to them in time for the holidays! We hope the cards will let them know we appreciate what they do, and that we wish them all the best for the Holidays and most of all our wishes for a safe trip home soon!

Halloween Party '09...

2009-11-14T09:27:00.000-06:00

We had a lot of fun at our Halloween Parties. It was fun to dress up and parade around the school in our coustumes. Can you guess who we are?:

Meet Some of our "Pets"...

2009-11-02T21:48:00.004-06:00

We have been working to help the Almost Home Foundation which rescues and fosters pets who need a home. We thought it might help us gain some appreciation for fostering pets if we could try it out in some way. We have several pets to chose from, 3 cats and 3 dogs. Between our AM & PM classes 4 children get to "Foster" a pet for a few days each week. We have a little pet carrier to help the pet travel safely. We also have a journal to help record events that happen while away from school. Take a look at a few kids from our class and the pets they chose to take home for a few days:

Fostering Jade...

2009-10-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

One of the "pets" we have for Fostering is "Jade". She is a cute little (stuffed) black kitten that loves to go home with Kindergartners. Take a look at some of the fun she had when Jade went home with JonLuca:

Foster Pet Parents....

2009-10-27T15:14:00.001-05:00

After our experience with Freddy the Cat, we thought it would be both fun and interesting to try fostering pets in our homes. Obviously, we can't take REAL pets home, but we have several stuffed dogs and cats that would LOVE to go home with a Kindergartner for a few days. We have several pets. Our cats are Maggie, Jade and Tiger. Our dogs are Mocha, Onyx and Mr. Maxx. We all wrote our names on a little paper "doggie bone" and every few days Mrs. Blakely pulls a name from the can. That child can choose a pet to take home for a few days. They can journal about their adventures and take photos to share. Take a look at the adventures Onyx had when she went home with a couple of our friends.

Helping Pets in Need...

2009-10-19T15:35:00.005-05:00

This year we decided to reach out to our community in a new and fun way. We thought it would be nice to help pets in need. We contacted the folks at the Almost Home Foundation and are joining with them to do what we can to help pets that have been rescued and are living in "Foster Homes". We think of it as taking time to help, or pausing to help pets.
Thus we say: PAWS to Help Pets! :-)
Each month we plan to collect items to donate to the Almost Home Foundation. Our first collection was "Pennies for Pets". We sent out notes and asked families to send in pennies. We think it was a huge success. Our school collected $394.07!!! Then Mrs. Rose, of the Almost Home Foundation came to visit with her special friend Freddy! We were so excited. First she talked with us about what a "rescue" does to help pets. She also used a puppet to show us the proper way to greet a dog we don't know. She said always ask the owner if you can pet the dog. Then let it sniff your hand and rub gently from under the chin. Then she brought out Freddy to meet us. He was very patient as each child got a chance to come up and pet him. We hope that we will inspire some of our blog visitors to see what you might be able to do to help pets in your area! Our local PetsMart hosts pet adoptions each week. Maybe yours does too!

Same and Different...

2009-10-06T12:29:00.011-05:00

In Kindergarten, part of becoming good readers and writers is being able to notice how things are the same and how they are different. One day in class, quite by accident, a few friends came dressed almost the same. Take a look at our little video to see what is the SAME about them; and what is DIFFERENT. What do you notice? Take a second look to be sure! ;-)

Learning Letter Sounds...

2009-09-18T11:00:00.002-05:00

We are working hard to learn all the letter sounds. We have several games and songs to help us with this. Sometimes pictures help us learn. Videos like this help too....

Poetry in Motion...

2009-09-14T09:00:00.006-05:00

As part of our "Being a Writer" curriculum, we are exploring writing about things we can do. We read a poem called "Just Watch" by Myra Cohn Livingston. We thought it would be fun to act out the poem. Take a look at how some of our kids interpreted the poem. (Note: Michael, I am still working on getting your part to work...sorry!)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bubble Gum in Class...

2009-09-09T22:51:00.010-05:00

We made a book about bubble gum. It took a few days to finish, but we got it done! Each child made their own book to take home to begin a nice collection of books that we'll make and that they can read at home. On the last day of bookmaking, we got to have bubble gum. We tried to blow a bubble. Most kids are still learning how to do it. We had a little poem we were chanting... BUBBLE GUM BUBBLE GUM JUICY AND WET, CAN YOU BLOW A BUBBLE YET? Take a look at our video to see who can blow a bubble, and who can't just yet:

We're Here...

2009-09-02T17:29:00.007-05:00

Well, we're off and running into a new school year. We started last week, but it took a few days before we were ready to post! This year we have very full classes, which means we'll have a lot of interesting things to add to our blog.
We began our first day working with TUBS for TubTime (math) and working on our Bubble Gum book. Take a look at our very first day in Kindergarten! There were a few tears (from both kids and parents), lots of smiles, and tons of anticipation!
We hope you will come back often to see what's happening in our classroom. Feel free to leave your comments too!

Same and Different...

2009-08-05T15:25:00.004-05:00

Aren't these two pets adorable? Our friends over at Manaia Kindergarten have been sharing their pets at school. (We are going to do something similar when school starts up again in a few weeks). Some of their students have cats and others have dogs. They are welcoming comments from others that will help kids (and big people too) know the similarities and differences between the two pets.

Click on over to their site and share a thought or two:

Manaia Kindergeraten Cats & Dogs.

Dog& Cat image borrowed from Manaia Kindergarten's blog.